54 Responses to BATTLEFIELD IMAGERY: NIGERIAN ARMY REVA MRAPs

Congrats to the New President M. Buhari and former President for a peaceful transition! I must confess, I was really impressed with that speech…..Obviously won’t be “business as usual” especially for the armed services and security agencies! Now that Command and Control will be relocating to Maiduguri and extensive consultations are to be taken to unravel international dimension of Boko Haram, I can’t wait for the next phase of events in this Counterinsurgency! I can’t wait for all Boko haram cells and elements to be uprooted and finally smashed, even the Fulani herdsmen to be smoked out once and for all…..Also according to him, a “rejigging” of Nigeria’s security architecture!! The humiliation from international press has been too much abeg….its time to put them in their place!! Time to Arm Nigeria to the Teeth! President Buhari, please be wary of the West especially the Americans….suddenly, out of the blues, they are ready to send their troops here to train ours, but were absent during the last administration for reasons only they have answers to…..they don’t have Nigeria’s interests at heart but will seize any opportunity to make us their pUppets or proxy whiich is unacceptable…….We need a Census urgently Sir!!…..on the side, I saw some clips of the security details of the inauguration on NTA of a policeman with an M4 Carbine, did anyone see this too…..any idea if the $1 billion intervention money has been spent?

Oga Are James. O respect your hustle.
Everything in this piece is so cliche, i glanced at the beginnings of paragraphs and could easily conclude them without looking; damnn i’m good, or maybe i’ve just had my own full share of the blatantly false and myopic narrative about Nigeria heheheh 🙂 What stood out for me was this though:
“Wearing a traditional Muslim gown, and holding a Quran, Mr. Buhari promised to uphold Nigeria’s Constitution.”
Traditional Muslim gown? hehehe, If the Babbanriga/Agabada is traditionally muslim, wouldn’t they be wearing the Babbanriga/Agabada in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Malaysia; that’s because the Babbanriga/Agabada is traditionally African, duhhhh
Yes, there are some minor similarities between the Babbanriga/Agabada and the Thobe&Bischt Abaya worn in Saudi Arabia, but the Babbanriga/Agabada is far more intricate in its design, elegance and production hence more ubiquitous.
Traditional Muslim gown? give me a break Mr. Adam
That’s like saying the Saturn V rocket and the Apollo program is traditionally German because they copied, used and improved upon German V-2 technology….hehehehe
these guys crack me up too much, the Grandbubu is far more African than Muslim; today, wearing a Babbanriga/Agbada has nothing to do with your religion, but trust the cliche thumping Adam Nossiter of Nytimes to ceaselessly harp on non issues such as religion. Nigeria is a secular state Mr. Adam. And yes, i go on this tirade about the Babbanriga/Agabada because it is African; get it right.

The Nigerian military does pretty well under ex military rulers. OBJ was effective in squashing the Niger Delta insurgency. The Jonathan administration and his ministerial cabinet was out of touch with the Nigerian military in almost every aspect. You have a Finance minister bragging to the Western Financial institutions how she was able to slash defence spending by % 20 in record time. There was more money allocated for paying Niger Delta militants under the Amnesty deal than for national defence. Ex militants take home $500 in monthly pay yet soldiers at the front line get paid $100 a month, and that’s IF they get paid at all. Good riddance to BAD GOVERNANCE.

OBJ! Effective in squashing the Niger Delta insurgency?? Are you for real? Maybe you’re referring to Odi or Zaki Biam! But the emergence of GEJ’s administration was because of the humiliation the Niger Delta insurgency caused his administration…..Odi actually escalated the crisis!! Mistakes were made in the last administration but you can’t deny the strides that were made…..the IGRIRI APC, armed drones, equipping the Navy, Ihejirika’s COIN training centre, acqusitions for the army to name a few…

File picture dated on January 2, 2015 shows French helicopters stationed at a base in Goa, 320km from of Timbuktu
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Gao (Mali) (AFP) – Based in Mali’s inhospitable northern desert, French troops are waging an attritional campaign against a ghost-like, invisible enemy — a master in the guerrilla art of hit-and-run.

More than two years after the French-led Operation Serval routed jihadists advancing on the capital Bamako, armed groups in the area are no longer able to carry out coordinated attacks.

“Since Serval they have suffered high attrition rates. They no longer have freedom of action on the ground,” the mission’s commander, Colonel Luc Laine, told AFP.

“They are scattered, they are watching us, invisible. Their actions are disjointed, unfocused. There is no common thread.”

Shortly after 4:00 am (0400 GMT) on Friday, a rocket fired from a plateau overlooking Gao city fell on the nearby camp used by the United Nation’s MINUSMA peacekeeping mission, causing no casualties but underlining the ever-present danger.

“That’s what’s hard. We’re fighting against an invisible enemy,” said Laine, who at home commands the 21st Marine Infantry Regiment, based in Frejus in the south of France.
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File picture dated on January 2, 2015 shows soldiers …
File picture dated on January 2, 2015 shows soldiers at a French base outside the northern Malian ci …

“Their modus operandi is hit-and-run tactics. What is difficult is that we never see them, but we know they are watching us.

“The risk is that you let down your guard because, as you can’t see anyone, you might be inclined to believe that they are not there. So you become less vigilant and therefore vulnerable.”

Taped to the wall of his office is a picture of the one-eyed Algerian Islamist commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar, one of the main jihadist figures in the Sahel.

– ‘We know they’re watching’ –

“That’s why I have his picture here — to remind me that he exists, and he wants to harm me,” Laine said.
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File picture shows French troops on patrol near the village of Bamba between Timbuktu and Gao, north …

“They are still there, but in a diffuse, furtive sense. They can no longer lead major combat operations, but they can exploit the slightest lack of vigilance.

“They are smart, they have adapted. They hide their weapons. If they travel by SUV, it is never in a convoy, but one-by-one.

“It’s tricky for us, to distinguish between the trafficker, the terrorist and the (Tuareg rebel). Some offer their services to the highest bidder. It’s a way of life for some people here.”

Stationed with around 700 men in a makeshift township of tents and concrete buildings near Gao airport, Laine commands the Western Desert Tactical Group, one of the two components of France’s Sahel counter-terrorism mission, Operation Barkhane, headquartered in Chad.

The troops patrol the region regularly, for reconnaissance and as a show of strength, but Laine knows that the enemy is aware of their every move.

They are only really able to surprise the jihadists on special forces operations, like the raid on May 18 that killed key jihadist leader Amada Ag Hama, known as “Abdelkrim the Tuareg”.

“We know they are watching everything we do. As soon as you move, as soon as we leave here, they are notified,” Laine told AFP.

“For us it is very difficult to tell the difference between the guy who calls his boss or his wife and the one who calls the head of his terrorist group.”

Laine says his goal, having seen northern Mali liberated in 2013, is that it can “become a hospitable territory once more”.

“We have to stop them doing again what they did in 2013. Our long-term goal is that the Malian army and MINUSMA take over this mission.”

A weakened Niger Delta insurgency was given a choice, continue fighting or Amnesty, they chose the latter because the FG was negotiating from a position of strength.my weather you like it or not that is tactical victory, it’s a part of warfare. The Jonathan administration tried exactly the same stick and carrot approach with Book Garam but coming from a position of weakness they chose war.Why should you ask me if I think before making comments? Why is it that you guys have a hard time accepting other people’s opinion? Must I tow the same line with you!?

Oil productions were at Nigeria’s lowest yet, Kidnappings and oil and gas vandalisations were at an all time high. This doesn’t look like the activities of a group been squashed.

Infact after Asari Dokubo was arrested by Obasanjo, general chaos in the creeks and the region blew over.

The Niger-Delta militant leaders were known, and regularly met with the government in power, Tompolo, Ateke tom, Sogboma George, Asari were all known, their grievances were also clear. Goodluck Jonathan’s emergence as V.P was as a result of their agitations.

It was President umaru Musa ya’ardua who ended the insurgency. His Niger-Delta committee headed by then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan was responsible for the actual negotiations, which lead to the ending of hostilities.

Obasanjo had absolutely nothing to do with it. Even after signing the Ammnesty agreement, which led to 25,000 N.D militants surrendering their arms, militants like John Togo reneged of the NDLF reneged and went back into the creeks were he returned to hostilities and was subsequently killed by NAF MI-35 Helicopters, all in the President Yar’Adua administration.

Oga Oje. I respect your hustle sir.
As we all know, hind sight is pristine, it makes for easy evaluation of events. One thing we can all agree on is the fact that during the Niger-Delta militancy years, the carrot and stick approach was used albeit spread over numerous administrations. Comparing all the administration present in that time, one can categorically say without the benefit of a doubt that OBJ’s administration was the stick, a very long and hard stick used to soften the under-belly of the militants; this evidently made the Amnesty program much more tenable for the fighters. We can conclude, as we also see now that if you do not negotiate from a position of strength, you run the risk of failed negotiations. GEJ’s administration up until six months ago will be considered the carrot phase, dangled endlessly to reel these people in, but we all know the result. But GMB’s administration had better double down on heavy firepower #ArmNigeriaToTheTeeth, because arerams want nothing more than to die, all GMB can do is expedite that wish.

Oil productions were at Nigeria’s lowest yet, Kidnappings and oil and gas vandalisations were at an all time high. This doesn’t look like the activities of a group been squashed.

Infact after Asari Dokubo was arrested by Obasanjo, general chaos in the creeks and the region blew over.

The Niger-Delta militant leaders were known, and regularly met with the government in power, Tompolo, Ateke tom, Sogboma George, Asari were all known, their grievances were also clear. Goodluck Jonathan’s emergence as V.P was as a result of their agitations.

It was President umaru Musa ya’ardua who ended the insurgency. His Niger-Delta committee headed by then Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan was responsible for the actual negotiations, which lead to the ending of hostilities.

Obasanjo had absolutely nothing to do with it. Even after signing the Ammnesty agreement, which led to 25,000 N.D militants surrendering their arms, militants like John Togo reneged of the NDLF reneged and went back into the creeks were he returned to hostilities and was subsequently killed by NAF MI-35 Helicopters, all in the President Yar’Adua administration.

@General Oje. The OBJ administration ended the Niger Delta crises, the same way the british ended the Ecomog wars and the mighty “battle hardened” chadian and
cameroonians armies liberated Gworza. That’s only on paper and in the minds of mischievous, revisionist journalist / historians.

Oga Henry, your analogy is flawed, do not allow sentiments cloud your sense of judgement. Oil production was at an oil time low yes but what did you expect when the war was being waged in an oil producing battle ground. MI-24 Helicopter gunships destroyed virtually all militant Camps, Nigerian troops engaged the militants even right in the creeks where the militants were based. No territory was lost and the territorial integrity of Nigeria was never in jeopardy, no territory was lost and despite the carnage there was very low casualty on the side of the military and civilians were relatively safeasy, you can site Odi massacre but those were isolated events.

Fast forward to GEJ era, 19, thousand civilians killed, morale is on an all time low and territory the size if Belgium is lost to BH, you have desertions on a mass scale and an Intelligence Service that is virtually non existence. All this despite the fact the battle ground here is a flat and featureless terrain and sparsely populated compared to the Creeks of the Niger Delta. We relied on Chad,Cameroon and Niger defend our perimeter, what’s worse? We have a Commander in Chief who deems it fit to pay Chadian troops $1 million a month. If this is not gross incomepetence and a major disconnect with reality then I don’t know what is. The difference

1) Nigeria is certainly not paying chad any money.
2) first of all cameroon is fighting on cameroonian soil. And chad and niger are in a few Nigerian border villages only (about 4). I don’t know how many times it would be necessary to repeat how the peculiarities of fighting a common cross border ennemy requires a common fight.
Well since facts don’t matter, have it your way. By the way buhari is certainly not going to change the strategy already in place.

3) the lost land the size of belgium has been liberated.
4) I think it would be fair to make a distinction between militants blowing up pipelines and terrorists whose only aim is to kill civilians and seize land.
5) The story of “mass desertion” ? Nigeria is not equal to iraq ! Tell me how many soldiers deserted in Nigeria ? Stop confusing Nigeria with iraq and saudi arabia.
6) It would also be fair to remember what border tactics mean, especially when the neighbors were not cooperating with us.

Lol…I will not fall into your provocative tactics this time…besides you know this from your base in Paris? ChadIan forces were allowed to take back 11 villages and with very few casualties (this points to Boko/Chadian cooperation to make Nigeria look inept). Why can’t we accept our mistakes for once and learn from it? Why this constant denial? If all is well like you espouse we won’t still have Chadian troops stationed on Nigerian soil.

To lay to waste your assertions on Buhari not changing strategy already in place, he has already stated he is moving the operational headquarters of the Nigerian army from Abuja to Maiduguri, the heart of the frontline. No General will prosecute this war from the relative comfort and safety in Abuja. This is a new dawn for the Nigerian military, watch this space.

So according to you I am ignorant because I am in paris. Please tell me again where you are writing from ? Are you not writing from america ? For your information paris is closer to Nigeria than america is. So if I am ignorant then you we would need a brand new word to describe your ignorance.
Did you actually use the expression “new dawn”, don’t you think it makes you look a little bit brainwashed to repeat something which comes directly from obama campaign and which was borrowed the same way the word “change” was by the buhari campaign ?
Also moving the army headquarters to maiduguru is not a strategy. But perharps you don’t know the meaning of the word.

Also for your information, chadian soldiers didn’t go into more than 4 Nigerian border villages. I don’t know if you are aware but boko haram actually had and still has presence outside Nigeria. Perharps you know, perharps you don’t but the villages you are talking about are beyond the border, outside Nigeria. But I forgive you for not knowing this, indeed how would an american make such distinction ? After all for americans, “if it happened in iraq, then it must have happened in Nigeria”, in the great american fashion, don’t actually get facts on Nigeria, just be listening to what is happening in iraq and when you want to talk about Nigeria, just take all you learnt about iraq and repeat them, just change the name “iraq” to “Nigeria”.

I am just wondering one thing about the political landscape in Nigeria:
Is it now a norl for the opposition to be associating itself with foreign countries and also to undermine Nigeria in order to make the president look weak ? What I still have problem understanding is the propaganda unleashed against the Nigerian army. Why did Nigerian politicians do that ?

It was his Odi misadventure that transformed the militants from mere miscreants to militants. moved them from dispersion in urban areas to hardened camps like camp 9 etc.
There is as yet no indication that a single militant was killed in Odi. In deed if the Odi debacle happened during the GEJ era with blogs, smart phones and cheap data, OBJ might have had to face the ICC!!!

Yar Adua and Jonathan had to clean up OBJ’s mess in the Niger Delta.
Sabotage, proliferation of militant camps, kidnap of expats etc. took off in Yar Adua’s time. All of this led to the fullscale war on the militants culminating in the attack on Camp Nine and the final negotiation and capitulation of the militants. All of which happened after OBJ.

In deed it is shameful that an ex- military man like OBJ ruled for 8 years, and so soon thereafter, GEJ inherited a military that was flat out on its belly in all senses of the expression.
OBJ broke a lot of new ground during the 8 years he led the Country (some positives and some negatives – including Odi/zaki biam) but dont attempt to credit him with controlling the ND crises. That would be extremely inaccurate to say the least.

Ozed, compared to shame and emvarassment Nigeria as a nation has been under GEJ ? Why the emphasis on OBJ anyway? I made references because it was in his administration when the insurgency started. Most people don’t know the enormity at which GEJ’s inept handing of the war has cost Nigeria. This has nothing yo do with human right abuse or Odi massacre. Let me itemise them, I know this is obviously an emotional issue to some herextent.

* Lack if clear strategy to defeat Boko harm
* Outsourcing the security of Nigeria to foreigners
*Hundreds of troops consistently fleeing the battlefield over lack of weapons.
*Entrusting Idris Derby to broker a cease fire agreement with boko haram 14 days after Idris derbys aid was caught trying to smuggle 18 SA-7 Surface to air missiles to Nigeria.
* When the girls abducted it took our president, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan three fucking weeks or thereabout to publicly acknowledge the dastardly act, and over five months after no serious rescue effort has been mounted to bring the girls home.

The list is endless. Nigeria under GEJ was at its lowest point since independence, never again should we elect a leader of of tribal or religious sentiments, Buhari will indeed redeem the lost prestige of Black Africa’s most powerful nation.

People make the mistake of transforming /confusing any discussions about OBJ or indeed Buhari into a comparison of GEJ vs either of the two (since they both now seem like two sides of a coin).

GEJ has come and gone. The electorate has rightly or wrongly punished him for his perceived failings. We might have different views on how he fared. However, facts are facts!
I came into this discussion solely to correct the erroneous credit to OBJ of ‘crushing’ the ND militancy. Please DONT change the discuss to an evaluation of GEJ’s time!!!

Whether GEJ met expectation or not, has nothing to do with ascribing some or all of the ‘few’ good he did to other persons who rather ‘in my view’ contributed to the mess he inherited by not even equipping the military.

Bottom line, let us agree that OBJ never ‘crushed the ND crises’, and failed in positioning the NA for the crises that was already apparent. We can then debate GEJ’s performance another day (though i would leave that to the historians if i were you).

Regarding Buhari’s ability to crush the militancy, i will wait to see the morning before attempting to foretell the day ahead.
This are early days. Let us see him perform and we can then all clap for him. However, i am skeptical for a number of reasons:

1. His utterances make the problem appear simple and easy to crack, while all indications from insurgencies around the world suggest otherwise
2. The quasi-conventional battle with defined battle lines are close to an end, the last 6 weeks of the despised GEJ saw to that, and we are yet to see the re-positioning to counter the more difficult covert actions by BH aimed at soft targets
3. I am yet to see the depth of resolve among the Northern elders to rip this cancer out from the roots, rather there was entirely too much energy expended in blaming GEJ and showing him up as incompetent.

Long and short is the journey is still long in my view, and mere palliatives will not suffice at this time. As the elders say, if the odour on the shrew were on his skin, the rain would have long since washed it off!!!

The purpose of participating in a blog like this is to contribute facts, not to distort facts and bring in a lot of ignorance. I don’t even understand what oje is still doing here. I have contributed my time and reasoning on this blog for years. People like oje who know nothing about Nigeria which they didn’t read on a usa propaganda against Nigeria have nothing to do here. It defeats the purpose of bringing expertise to this blog while some ignorant people speak at the same level as you. Also notice that there used to be important and knowledgeable bloggers like jacob zenn on this blog, but why would such people come at this momment when they see the likes of oje spewing ignorance all over the place. Journalists used to come and get information from this blog. Now I bet they would be laughing while reading some ignorant comments. Well I will mostly contribute on the twitter account of the blog from now on. I don’t have time to waste with the likes of o.j.

So many facts seem to muddled here and a lot of apples and oranges being mixed. Defence reporting in Nigeria up to the last few months have been part fable and part rumours so nothing should be quoted from them as ‘facts’.
Weapons systems availability (usually an achievement of previous administrations to an incumbent one) has been rated equal with successful military campaigns and operations which are usually achieved through leadership skills and man management.
There is also an amateurishness in rating militaries – rating a country’s military in terms of its performance in a local in-country insurgency is very wrong. The US cannot even survive an in-bred, in-country insurgency like Nigerias or most third world countries.
Anyway, on rating the performance of previous administrations in Nigeria to the current one, the following would be my ranking in order of best to worst.
1. Murtala – Muhammed (good doctrine, succesful covert operations in support of MPLA the party that is current government of Angola. Reports of successful secret C-130 flights ferrying supplies to hastily prepared airstrips in Angola. Covert support for S.African liberation movements.
2. Abacha – Successful conduct of two campaigns in foreign countries in a context of defence embargo on Nigeria and very low oil prices. Good robust man management of the military, fire-in the-belly officers. Abacha is the reason why we have to score the IBB,Jonathan and OBJ administations very low in defence. Abacha achieved great things with less.
Buhari – Idiagbon. – successful counter operstions against incusions into the country during the previous regime is a credit to be given to this regime. Three successful joint maneuvres done for the first time in Nigeria with Idiagbon watching. Very professional military and quick reaction to internal security issues.
3. Yar’adua – Health challenges did not limit the vision and leadership of the president. Successful robust action against millitant bases in the Niger Delta achieved mostly with weapons bought by Obasanjo regime. Obasanjo’s verbal advice (read ‘instruction’) leaving office was to demolish all millitant bases in the Niger Delta with wapons already largely procured or being deliverd. Yar’adua acted with more wisdom and had amnesty program running side by side with the successful military actions. This administration score high marks for decisiveness and wisdom.
4, Gowon – Civil war rap-up, comprehensive procurement and training that was the basis of successful defence performance of Murtala-Muhammed.
5. OBJ – The first PDP regime came with a ‘mercantilist’ but also mafia-like approach to governance. The Abacha regime, poverty and Niger Delta crisis had ingrained a culture of impunity. Most governors of the era were ‘treasonable felons’ in terms of what was done against the federation. The rise of criminal miltias – Niger Delta and the fore runners of the Niger Delta ones started here. Many smaller militias were also apparently forming in the middle belt and north east. All the militias were financed by money coming from a corrupt federal and many state governments. OBJ actually bought the weapons used to reduce ND insurgency but he opened up the army to foreign countries and increased corruption in the military during the many rounds of using cash from the NNPC to pay for weapons from the MOD.
6. IBB – The comprehensive destroyer of modern Nigerian military capability was this rather selfish armoured general who corrupted the institution of the Nigeria Army, created a priviledged class of IBB boys in the NA, used the defence budgets for patronage, grounded the best airforce in sub saharan Africa and made NNS Aradu ineffective probably based on ‘shady’ threat asesments by foreign consultants aimed at protecting himself and his regime instead of Nigeria.
7. Jonathan – the wost performaing CIC in Nigerian history. On record as the first CIC who instructed that he should not be called by that title. Poor decision making ability, slow reactions and an inability to prioritize security issues. Parochial, self defensive advice probably slowed action gainst Boko Haram based on the thinking that modern weapons procured would probably used against his own region by a successor government. Poor man management of the military, extensive corruption by the brass, poor information management, poor perception management and poor performance management. Slow and reactive action taking – many LGAs captured, chibok girls et.c. Wrong decision making – Chad was permitted incursions into Nigeria, PMC issues were not well managed from the information perspective.

I rated about 6 or 7 administrations and you are saying i made accusations. one of the worst ratings went to IBB but he also spent on welfare. I actually did not do the rating on on how much cash was splurged on the military, i rated them on overall performance and the ‘bang for the buck’. Also the effect of Boko Haram and other insurgences were normalised in the ratings. It was about ‘how’ and what was achieved not the sensitivity or difficulty of the problem.

Lol..For a country at war for 6 years and losing territory and large swatches if land that us indeed a very poor and shameful aquisituon, we are buying things one by one. The Iraqi airforce ordered 6 units of SU-25 48 hours after losing ground to ISIS. SOUTH SUDAN, GABON, ETHIOPIA and even CHAD all field more advanced 4th Gen fighters and even a more robust air defence that a country with a GDP OF $1 TRILLION (PPP) .Is it not madness that we fly Alpha Jet trainers and F-7 as frontline fighters? Those responsible for negotisting the $350 milli9n deal for these jets should be arrested. It’s June 2015, why do we still have Chadian troops in Nigeria?

the people who were doing that deal have ‘ported’ to another political reality as expected of wily businessmen with worldly wisdowm. the bizman involved has been making pro-new government noises and i believe even made some visits to some elected officials to say congratulations. We therefore have to watch closely for any more second hand SU-25s and any more Pumas however i believe the deal has already gone through and the main part of the money has been chopped already.

Are you guys not tired of this “blame GEJ, he’s the root cause of the over 40yr issues bedeviling Nigeria”? Look at even the revisionism some of you smart guys are spewing here about the Niger delta gunboat wars…SMH.

Anyway, let us focus on how to get this new administration focused and moving with speed, instead of trading blames. The past is past.

You have a very serious point here. The man has done his bit and left peacefully.
Let us watch the new guys.
The big fear with new guys is actually not being close to the UK or the west and all that ….but just a likely return to nepotism, regional exclusivism and parochialism. We just hope lessons of the past have been properly imbibed.